"And as long as they don't understand that and don't accept it then the rule of law is in a very parlous state."

Justice Eames says the Nauru government has declined to reverse its decision to cancel his visa, making it impossible for him to perform the duties of chief justice from Melbourne.

At the time, Nauru faced accusations of having a political motive behind the moves, but rejected that as an "attack on (Nauru's) sovereignty" and said it was acting to combat cronyism in the judiciary.

Australian response 'extraordinary'

Justice Eames says it's "extraordinary" that the Australian government viewed the situation as a "domestic dispute" and says Canberra made a mistake by not taking stronger action against Nauru.

He says negotiations with the Nauru government conducted by the Australian and New Zealand foreign ministers have failed to produce a public acknowledgment by Nauru that their actions constitute an abuse of the rule of law.

"The second they characterised such a gross and patent violation of the rule of law; the second they trivialised it by making it sound as though it was a fight over parking spaces they lost all prospects of being able to get through to the Nauru government that this was a serious breach, and a serious breach to the rule of law matters."

However, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Brett Mason says both Australia's Prime Minister and Australia's Foreign Minister made it very plain that Australia takes the rules of law very seriously and we are in constant contact with Nauru about these issues.

"We take them very seriously, the Nauruan Government can be in no doubt about Australia's attitude with respect to the rule of law," he said.

"Nauru is a democracy, any democracy has to take the rule of law very seriously.

It is not something you can give and take at convenient moments.

Our High Commission in Nauru has been up-front with the Nauruan Government and has explained how important the consistent application of justice is in Nauru."

Justice Eames says the Nauru government still has not given him an explanation for the cancellation of his visa.

"Life will proceed without me being involved in it, but it will proceed in circumstances where I would think any new appointees would be extremely wary about whether their judicial independence will be compromised the moment they make a decision the government doesn't agree with."

It's a fundamental human yearning to be a part of something bigger than one's self, and maybe that's what drove my mate Ash to die, far from home, in a bloody foreign war against Islamic State, writes C August Elliott.